The Windy City Classic is regarded as AAW’s biggest show of the year for a number of reasons. Coming on the heels of a holiday weekend, it’s the perfect way for wrestling fans in Chicago to unwind and get away from their annoying families. What made this particular event special was the long awaited debut of Kevin Steen, a man who had gone out of his way to mention AAW as a place he’s wanted to work. Steen was scheduled to take on Shane Hollister for the AAW heavyweight championship. Similar to Ultramantis Black, I don’t think anyone was expecting Steen to actually win the title belt on his first night. Like Ultramantis, Steen did indeed win the title in what was I believe the largest crowd in the history of AAW, definitely the largest in Berwyn. Steen said in a promo earlier in the show that he had never seen Hollister wrestle, and based on the match this seemed awfully plausible The timing wasn’t altogether there. I still liked the match, and the moment of Steen getting three and the championship is another unforgettable moment in a series of them for AAW.
There has been a lot of conversation about giving guys like Ultramantis and Steen the titles on their first night. I see the arguments, but to focus on AAW, with the crowd size being what it was and the potential to draw something similar for a return match in December is an awfully tempting business decision. Hollister’s title reign also hasn’t my world on fire even though he’s turned in solid performances. I think a shock title change done once in a while, not even once a year but every two or three, can jump start some booking, and give a company some much needed freshness. While I see the logic and respect the decision, I can see someone making a strong argument for this disrupting the storytelling and in a way burying an AAW guy in favor of an independent superstar. For the One Twisted Christmas review, I’ll discuss this a little bit more.
One of the things that I feel makes Silas Young and Jimmy Jacobs so special is their ability to just not perform movez but also to tell stories with their physicality and on the microphone. Putting these two together on the surface should not have worked, but I think these guys are so good at what they do, having them win the Allegiance Tag Team Tournament turned out to be a common sense booking decision. The only unfortunate aspect of the tournament is we didn’t get to see the big storylines play out thanks to an injury to Josh Alexander. Instead we got something a little bit different, which may have in a bizarre play, made the story even better.
The first semifinal saw the NEW Nation of Domination of Ethan Page and Ricochet wrestle Zero Gravity in a great opener to the show. Putting Ricochet against ZG is a rather easy choice and one I’m surprised no other Midwest indie has been able to take advantage of. Although we didn’t get a third ZG/Monster Mafia match, it’s tough for me to think of a better replacement for Josh Alexander than Ricochet. Lots of good action that got the crowd going right away. I understand why cheating was used since Page and Ricochet in the finals actually made more sense as heels. These two played off well in the ring and during a promo. The fact they’re both so clearly marks for the Rock helps.
Semifinal number two saw Silas Young and Jimmy Jacobs wrestle Irish Airborne. I mentioned the storytelling earlier and will show my work here. Young and IA had a relationship in the past, and that played into the match. Always a plus to see continuity matter. IA was being very friendly with their former partner in crime, and only after a hot tag did Young finally play the defined babyface in his comeback. I liked that what happened even two years came into play here since it could have just as easily been ignored. The match didn’t need to be amazing since no one is going to perform better spotwise than ZG and Ricochet. By not trying to go crazy in the second match, I think the match was nearly just as good for different reasons. Jacobs also had a “Shawn Michaels the Raw after Survivor Series 1995” moment in teasing a concussion. On DVD, it came off a bit cheesy and an obvious work, but I recall legitimate concern at the actual event. If nothing else, Jacobs is at least willing to make matches more interesting and dramatic through selling and not falling into the same traps.
Jimmy Jacobs’s “concussion” played directly into the finals as he was nowhere to be seen when the bell rang for the finals. Young doesn’t trust anyone in the locker room and has no friends (hence why no would save he or his wife from Eddie Kingston), so he put Val Malone on the apron. I thought we might have gotten Malone being beaten up by Page given his AIW history, but they were saving that big heel moment for the following month. Jacobs fought officials in the entranceway but eventually made his way to the apron and tagged. The crowd was very into the entire match and the volume got turned up once Jacobs really turned things into high gear. Jacobs eventually pinned Ricochet with a super contra code to complete the story. Jacobs and Young get the singles matches they’ve been building toward while Page can say he didn’t lose the tournament while Ricochet, the replacement partner, lost. This point is even more important when considering Page hit Ricochet with a Rock Bottom as a way of showing who he thought was responsible for the loss. Page and Alexander could still get a tag team title match without having lost in the tournament. I don’t think tournament was as successful as the Heritage title tournament because that not tourmanent not only had great matches but built up multiple stars as well. This told a pretty good story and at least built up multiple matches in the process.
While it can be argued the heavyweight title switch was one of the biggest of the weekend, the Heritage title switch might be even more important in the long term with Matt Cage ascending very quickly and going over ACH in a very good match. They’re both in a sense the same person as far as personalities and egos go, but ACH is able to endear himself to the fans like only so few wrestlers can. There was some clear miscommunication at the end of the match. I don’t know what happened, but it felt like these two were trying to wrestle two separate matches in the final minutes. Cage hit ACH with the belt then used the codebreaker to get the pinfall win. Not the cleanest win but I think ACH has held onto the belt long enough to where he can transition into the heavyweight title race and allow Cage a chance to become a star. To me, Matt Cage is the guy to watch in AAW because of his ability to cut promos and deliver in the ring.
The final notable match from this evening saw Kyle O’Reilly defeat Louis Lyndon in a singles match. Since there was the Allegiance tournament finals, I understand the desire to separate the tag team champions. For Lyndon at least, the results were positive as his style matches well with O’Reilly. Lots of submissions and kicks from these two men. O’Reilly eventually won with the cross armbreaker in a good midcard outing for both men. I’m glad Lyndon got a chance in singles action against someone with the crediblility of O’Reilly. It’s really important to have these midcard matches that don’t just feel like throwaways but to have something meaningful happen in such a way that doesn’t bury both guys but also allows for quality wrestling too.
Notice how in the previous match I used the word notable. The rest of this card was absolutely forgettable and ran the gambit from boring to bad. Heidi Lovelace and Heather Patera was not very good and a major disappointment to their feud. Also, introducing Truth Martini as Patera’s manager and then having her lose makes no sense. I see the logic of Lovelace winning based on the story being told, but the timing probably could have been executed better. Keith Walker squashed Sea-Man and Moondog Bernard. The fans are happy to see this duo on every pre-show. I happen to not be into their shtick at all. Different strokes for different folks. There was an awful six man tag as Knight Wagner, Markus Crane, and Dan Lawrence wrestled Marion Fontaine, MsChif, and Tony Rican. This was aggressively bad as no one was on the same page with each other, and everything felt very sloppily done.
The final match to discuss is Marek Brave against Christian Rose in a “Loser Leaves Berwyn” match. This was done with no build. They wrestled for seven minutes. Brave used as borderline unprotected chairshot to win a match where the Berwyn crowd was catatonic. I have no idea what is trying to be accomplished here, but it’s not over. Having Rose feud with Brave for eight months doesn’t strike me as a great move to start. Killing a stipulation when we all pretty much know Rose is coming back (or else this angle is really dumb) is so odd. I liked the July match and what they tried to accomplish, but nothing since has remotely connected, and I’m not sure AAW knows what to do with Christian Rose. I’m disappointed by this, but some guys just don’t fit in with certain companies. Hopefully, Rose can get another chance as either a babyface or as part of a tag team.
This show has five important matches that ranged from good to great. At the very least, the show is worth purchasing for those reasons. There’s also an awful lot of dead weight too. The six man tag and Keith Walker squash in particular could have not existed, and I think everyone would have walked away just as happy. This show did not hold up as well on DVD as it did live, but there’s still enough for a recommendation.
Grade: B
Funny Promo Notes:
I’m adding this section because AAW does a ton of promo, and there are times when talking about them dooesn’t fit in to talking about the matches. However, there were some noticeably great moments.
Kyle O’Reilly did a spit take after finding out Prince Mustafa Ali wasn’t in the building.
Ethan Page and Ricochet compared themselves to PG-13. I guarantee that comparison will never happen again.
Eddie Kingston talked about Silas Young costing him his chance to be AAW champion. I didn’t like the no-contest finish in the main event of War is Coming, but at least they’re making it a part of the story.
Taped from Berwyn, Illinois
Commentators: Phil Colvin and Derek St. Holmes
-Allegiance Tag Team Tournament Semifinal: Ethan Page and Ricochet defeat Zero Gravity (Bret Gakiya and CJ Esparza) by pinfall. Page pins Gakiya while holding onto the middle rope/10:33/***1/2
-Allegiance Tag Team Tournament Semifinal: Silas Young and Jimmy Jacobs (w/Val Malone) defeat Irish Airborne (Jake and Dave Crist by pinfall. Jacobs pins Dave after a senton/13:45/***1/4
-Heidi Lovelace defeats Heather Patera (w/Truth Martini) by pinfall/6:23/**1/4
-Kyle O’Reilly defeats Louis Lyndon (AAW tag team champion) by submission after the cross armbreaker/13:34/***1/4
-Keith Walker (w/Kevin Harvey and Nikki) defeats L.O.S.E.R.S (Sea-Man and Moondog Bernard w/Arnold Pressly) by pinfall after lariats for both men/4:22/N/R
–-Matt Cage defeats ACH by pinfall after a belt shot and codebreaker to win the AAW Heritage Championship/14:27/***1/4
-Knight Wagner (w/Truth Martini), Dan Lawrence, and Markus Crane defeat Tony Rican, Marion Fontaine (AAW Tag Team Champion), and MsChif. Wagner pins MsChif with a roll-up after Heather Patera hits MsChif with a foreign object/9:31/*
-Loser Leaves Berwyn: Marek Brave defeats Christian Rose/7:41/*
-Allegiance Tag Team Tournament Final: Silas Young and Jimmy Jacobs (w/Val Malone) defeat Ethan Page and Ricochet. Jacobs pins Ricochet with a super contra code. /12:38/***3/4
-AAW Heavyweight Championship: Kevin Steen defeats Shane Hollister (w/Scarlett and Markus Crane) to win the AAW Heavyweight championship by pinfall after the package piledriver/14:20/***1/4
For more information on AAW and their upcoming shows, check out AAW’s Website. To buy this and many other AAW DVDs, check out Smart Mark Video. Below is a list of contact information for both the website and me.
Contact Pro Wrestling Ponderings!
E-mail: prowrestlingponderings@gmail.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pwponderings
Twitter: www.twitter.com/pwponderings
Youtube: www.youtube.com/pwponderings
Contact ME!
E-mail: jcusson07@gmail.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/jeromepwpeditor